I never lost my strength

violeta carrión Nurse Sanitas Jardines de Sabatini

The families called us because they needed us to comfort and calm the residents for them. Sometimes you don’t have that peace yourself, so it is hard to give it to others.

MADRID — SPAIN

One morning on my shift, at the end of March, I was taking temperatures and one of our older residents had a temperature of 38.3 °C. In that moment, I got a fright and and thought the thermometer must be wrong. I tried with another, but it still came out at 38 °C. Literally seconds later, he started to cough and seemed really ill. He destabilised in moments and his oxygen saturation levels were very low. I remember what a chaotic morning that was. I was lucky that a doctor came straight away, assessed him and sent him to hospital. When he went on that stretcher, nearly all the staff gathered round to say goodbye. We could see how unwell he was.

We soon found out he was Covid positive and he died a few days later. From that moment, when we had our first positive case, cases started increasing at the home.

I am 28 years old and I live alone. Obviously, I didn’t want to visit my parents or relatives. In April, at the peak, I found it very difficult and was very stressed. To add to it, my sister told me my parents had Covid symptoms. That was when I said, If anything happens to my family, I can’t go on. I lost seven kilos and had no appetite for eating or for anything else.

My parents did actually turn out to be positive, but thankfully they weren’t severly ill. When I realised what a state I was in, I talked to people, particularly my sister, and decided to change my chip. I tried to spend my spare time doing something I enjoyed. Then the infection rates started to go down a bit and I started to feel better.

I never gave up and I always remembered: These patients are all we have and we can’t let them down. We need to give them all we have.

Now that family members can visit their elderly relatives and can see how well we have looked after them, I am really encouraged. �